PEORIA, Ill. – The Lindenwood women's volleyball team (9-2) added two more wins on day one of the CEFCU Invitational in Peoria, defeating New Mexico State (6-5) and UT Rio Grande Valley (3-8). The Lions' 9-2 start is their best record through eleven matches in the NCAA era (since 2011).
Match 1 – Lindenwood 3, New Mexico State 1
The Lions started off the weekend with a 3-1 come from behind win over New Mexico State on Friday morning. After dropping the opening set, a 13-2 Lindenwood run in the second set was the turning point of the match.
The Lions were unable to overcome ten combined service and reception errors in the first set, falling by a score of 25-21 despite hitting at a clip of .382 and recording four more kills than the Aggies in the frame.
Lauren Ortwerth led Lindenwood with four kills in the set.
Lindenwood fell behind 20-12 in the second set before an 8-2 run cut the deficit to just a pair. New Mexico State used a timeout in an attempt to slow the momentum, but the breather was ineffective, as the Lions scored five straight out of the timeout to take the set.
Susanna Beretti registered eight kills in the frame to spark the Lindenwood rally.
The third set was tied up at nine points apiece before an 11-2 run by the Lions gave Lindenwood a comfortable nine-point cushion. The Aggies made a late push with six unanswered points that cut their deficit to just two, but following a timeout,
Lauren Ortwerth finished the job with a kill for set point.
Lindenwood led for virtually the entire fourth set, pouncing out to a 10-3 lead and never letting their advantage shrink to fewer than three points for the remainder of the frame, sealing the match with a 25-20 victory.
Autumn Bax had the hot hand for the Lions, posting five kills in the set.
Bax finished the match with 13 kills on a .414 hitting percentage, trailing only
Susanna Beretti, who registered 17 terminations .471 attack percentage.
Lauren Ortwerth also finished in double digits with 11 kills.
Kaci Johnson continued to keep the Lindenwood offense on schedule, dishing out 47 assists for an average of 11.75 assists per set. The Lions recorded a team hitting percentage of .308, eclipsing the .300 mark for the fifth time this season after accomplishing the feat just once last year.
Defensively,
Dana Grib paced the squad with 18 digs (4.50 DPS) for her second highest total of the season.
Alayna Rudebeck and
Susanna Beretti also reached double figures in the match with 12 and 11 digs, respectively.
Meanwhile,
Kylee Richey had a big day with a season-high six blocks – including one solo rejection – while adding nine kills.
Match 2 - Lindenwood 3, UTRGV 0
The Lions extended their win streak to four matches with a 3-0 sweep of UTRGV on Friday evening, never trailing in the match.
Lindenwood cruised to a 25-16 win in the opening set, jumping out to an early lead before closing out the frame on a 9-2 run.
Ashley Geluck led the Lions in scoring with four kills and a pair of solo blocks.
The Lions led by as many as eight points in the second set before a 7-1 run by UTRGV cut their lead to just a pair. However, the Lions were able to regroup and hold off the Vaqueros to take firm control of the match with a 25-19 win. Geluck continued to lead the way with four more kills in the set.
Lindenwood was in control for the entire third set, leading by as many as seven points before settling for a 25-20 win to secure the match.
Autumn Bax had another strong finish, leading the team with six kills in the frame to finish the contest with a team-leading 12 terminations on an extremely efficient .545 hitting percentage.
Ashley Geluck led the Lions with 14 total points on 11 kills, two blocks, and one service ace while
Kaci Johnson handed out 38 assists (12.67 APS) as Lindenwood hit .269 as a team in the match.
On defense,
Dana Grib led the LU back row with 15 digs, averaging five digs per set, and
Kylee Richey collected three total blocks – including two solo efforts – to lead the squad.
Quotable
"Two matches in a day is always a challenge. I thought we did a good job of taking it one set at a time and dealing with what was in front of us. We did a good job of balancing the offense and finding the hot hitters in the moments when we needed them", said Lindenwood head coach
Will Condon. He continued, stating that, "Both NMSU and UTRGV are solid teams who come at you and can score in different ways. I thought we did a good job of making some tough plays and keeping our level high."
Next Up
Lindenwood concludes nonconference play on Saturday against Bradley. First serve is set for 2:00 p.m.
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